Food for thought and profit

Three changes, big resultsEven if you have a finely tuned menu selection and friendly staff, a number of factors beyond your food and service are responsible for bringing your guests back—and whether or not they spread the word about you. Upserve recently shared some tips that can help you boost business. For one, design your menu with the knowledge that your guests will spend just 109 seconds or less reading it. In that time frame, you must connect your guests with your brand and ensure you have steered them to the menu items you most want to sell. Pay attention to sweet spots including the upper-right-hand corner of your menu, as well as the first and last items you list, which tend to get the most attention. Using (but not overusing) shaded boxes, pull quotes and photos can help too—for instance, photographing one item on each menu page can help drive sales of those items by 30 percent, according to menu engineer Gregg Rapp. Second, mining your sales analytics to create menus that mesh with customer preferences can help you ensure you’re pricing your menu according to what the market will bear. If you’re going to put your technology dollars in one place, consider investing in software that will help you pull data from your business and adjust your menu accordingly. Finally, choose your décor colors carefully. While red is a color known for making people hungry, it can overpower (or come across as too obvious) if used as the predominant color in your restaurant. Mary Lakzy, a London-based creative director who advises foodservice clients about décor, suggests light, cool colors to make a room feel larger and more airy; dark, warm colors to give a space an intimate feel; and bold, primary colors to help encourage a faster turnover.Where’s the tipping point?Tipping in restaurants—and whether or not to discontinue to practice—has been in the news for months as restaurant operators struggle to find ways to level the playing field between front- and back-of-house staff. A new report from Eater introduces an additional perspective: Data about tipping clearly shows that the practice encourages racism and exploitation, both from guests and servers. For example, Eater analyzed date from the U.S. Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that from 2010 to 2016, the median estimated hourly tip for white servers and bartenders was $7.06; for black servers it was $5.58 and for Asians it was $4.47. The practice of tipping draws out the biases of servers as well. Zachary Brewster, a sociology professor at Wayne State University and the author of several studies about racial profiling in restaurants, said his research has found that it is more common for servers to provide slower service to black guests or to try to avoid serving them altogether because of preconceived notions about how much those tables are likely to tip. A survey of restaurant employees that Brewster conducted in 2012 found that respondents admitted to providing different levels of service based on race, or witnessing other servers do so. Of course, these stereotypes can also set in motion a self-fulfilling cycle that affects the service restaurant workers provide and, as a result, the tips they receive.When visitors bring unwelcome germsWhat visitors are passing through your kitchen? Inspectors, electricians, children, sales representatives, delivery personnel—all of them can introduce bacteria to your food and work surfaces. Make sure you take the necessary precautions before and after visitors come through to protect any food you have out and to clean and sanitize surfaces before any food preparation resumes after a visitor has left.Ethics should extend to grab-and-go foodsA new report from Culinary Vision Panel’s Mindful Dining Initiative found a clear opportunity for restaurant operators to showcase their ethics in the snacks and grab-and-go foods they offer, according to a Nation’s Restaurant News report. The study, Ethics on the Go, which surveyed 1,500 consumers in the U.S., found that 82 percent of respondents wish operators would use more environmentally friendly business practices. The trend was especially pronounced among consumers aged 18 to 34, who value ethical eating choices more than any other demographic. These respondents reported in the survey that they see a lack of ethical grab-and-go eating options in the market—and that they’re willing to pay more for these items when they find them. Plant-based foods are a priority for these consumers, so keep them in mind when planning your grab-and-go menu options.Retaining employees during the transition to new techKiosks, mobile apps, table-top ordering via tablet…The desire to provide technology that improves the customer experience has unleashed rapid-fire rollouts at many restaurants, particularly quick-service establishments. In the process, the employee experience may be suffering. That’s what’s been happening at McDonald’s, according to a recent report in Skift Table. The brand has been revamping its technology as part of its “Experience of the Future” campaign, which has included new technology, delivery, curb-side pickup and a revamped menu. The complications have made it an easier choice for low-wage workers to leave for other jobs than to learn new systems. Indeed, turnover at quick-service restaurants in the U.S. is currently 150 percent, the highest it has been since People Tracker began measuring the results in 1995. As you plan technology rollouts, ensure you have training initiatives in place to help keep employees on board.Order aggregator can streamline ordering techIf you have embraced the consumer demand for online ordering, you may be facing a related problem: having to juggle a tablet for every partner platform you have. As mobile platforms multiply—there are now more than 100—operators increasingly have to monitor an unmanageable number of devices. Pymnts.com reports that Ordermark is one company that can help streamline the process by aggregating orders from all of the mobile platforms. Ordermark is able to send orders directly to your kitchen in one format, eliminating the restaurant’s need to translate orders from different platforms. The setup requires just a tablet and an Epson printer designed for cranking out orders.What’s on your music menu?Do you get positive comments about your music selection? Your guests could be coming in for more than your menu—and that could be something to weave into your marketing plan. Consider Darden Restaurants’ new burger concept, Capital Burger, which is being promoted not just for its food and beverage but for the ambient sound that will be playing at the restaurant (Darden calls it “an innovative soundscape for the musically curious”). Restaurant Business reports that the brand has created a Spotify channel called Capital Burger Beginnings to help promote the sound and, ideally, bring people in for a burger.

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